But Those Are The Best Kind
by TheCheeryCherry
Summary: Gwen POV on the events towards the end of TASM movie and what happens afterwards.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer – As much as I would like to own Spiderman and all its characters (and Andrew Garfield's ass) I do not.**

_UGHH this couple just hit me with feels throughout the movie and one of the cutest couples ever. I mean hello, 'CHOCOLATE HOUSE?' just ugh… _

_This tackles the scenes at the end of the movie and also afterwards. Might make this longer or keep it as just a one shot. Feedback will be really appreciated. :)_

* * *

She didn't feel like getting up that morning. She lay there for a few minutes before eventually sitting up and looking around her room. This had been her usual routine for the past few weeks. Ever since the funeral and since Peter told her he couldn't be with her anymore.

She was angry with Peter. Angry with him for not coming to the funeral, because she had needed his support like she had supported him when his Uncle Ben had died. She had wanted to see him there more than any other person present at the funeral, and there were a lot of people at the funeral – none of them mattered though. She was angry with him for agreeing with her Father.

She was angrier with her Father for making that stupid promise in the first place. That's when she knew she was being illogical and non-sensical, because of course he was only saying it to protect her and keep her safe.

She was angry with herself as well. Angry because she was so consumed by Peter ending her relationship and by her Father's death that she was so often conflicted by the two different issues.

She tried to make herself as presentable as she could by tying her hair in a perfect ponytail and pulling on her knee-high socks. She glanced at herself in the mirror and was satisfied by the fact she looked… normal.

"Gwen?" She turned at the sound of her Mother's soft voice and saw her standing in the doorway looking paler than usual. She put on a brave smile, which was actually Gwen's inspiration for everyday at school since the passing of her Father.

"Yeah?" Gwen mumbled in reply, as she tried to tie a red ribbon in her blonde hair.

"Maybe you should go out after school today… Try to hang out with a friend?" Gwen sighed. Her mother was worried about her, because all Gwen did nowadays was go to school, come back home, study and then sleep. She simply shook her head and went back to packing her bag.

"What about Peter?" She froze for a second. She didn't have to turn around to know her mother was giving her a knowing look. She snorted to cover up her real feelings.

"Peter? There is… was absolutely nothing going on between us." She stopped herself before she started rambling on and made her point less convincing, but her mother saw through he anyway. She departed the room with a small, satisfied smile.

* * *

When she got into school she internally groaned as she saw Peter standing by his own locker. She ignored his presence or at least pretended like she was ignoring him. She opened her own locker and aimlessly searched around the insides. Even though she was still angry with him, she was trying really hard to make it easier for him. She knew deep down that he still cared for her and he was only doing what he promised her Father he would do. So she didn't try to talk to him and didn't even look at him. She desperately wanted to look at him, because it would definitely make her feel at peace again…

She remembered the last time she spoke to him. She had shown him all her sadness and frustration that she held towards him not going to the funeral. He had stared back blankly with no explanation. She had not been sure what she wanted from this conversation until that moment – she had wanted him to admit that he had been there. He was watching, she had sensed it. Or maybe it was just her imagination.

Then he said it – it was over between them. It was too much for him obviously. Maybe she should have been more understanding, but she had needed him and he was simply pushing her away. And she let him. She made sure he knew that she knew the real reason why he was doing this before walking away.

* * *

He was looking at her now as she silently passed by his locker. He just stood there and how could this possibly make it any easier for easier of them if he kept looking at her. She wanted to shout at him that this was getting ridiculous.

He was late for the class and he chose the seat directly behind her, which just confused her. She kept her head forward as the teacher said he shouldn't make promises he can't keep. He mumbled back, "But those are the best kind…"

In that moment she wasn't angry anymore, it all just seemed to melt away. She smiled and resisted the overwhelming urge to turn around. She held onto the hope he had just given her and she would not let go.


	2. Chapter 1

_Oh my gosh, thank you for all the lovely reviews! I know my first chapter was really short, but I didn't really know what I was going to do with this then and now I still don't really know but I have a better idea :P_

* * *

Gwen was furiously typing out her Biology lab report that was due in the next day. She hoped her essay wasn't coming across as pretentious or even possibly sarcastic due to her rage.

Her high over Peter giving her the teeniest, tiniest suggestion that he was going to go back on that ridiculous promise had well and truly ended.

After English class yesterday she had been walking around with the stupidest grin on her face. It didn't matter what happened, her smile stuck to her face like a piece of chewing gum on the sole of your shoe. Her Biology report due date had been brought forward by two days, but still she smiled. She got a B instead of the expected A on her English essay, but she kept on smiling.

She had not spoken to Peter on that day, but it didn't really seem to matter. She was even accepting the fact that he had to consider this more and needed time to officially go back on the promise. She took his words as a message that he wanted her back, but it was probably not as simple as that. She came to this conclusion after hours and hours of analyzing that one line, "_But those are the best kind…" _Oh, it still gave her shivers now.

"Can I borrow your charger?" She was brought out of her reverie by her brother's voice. She was currently sitting on her bed cross-legged as she wrote the beginnings of her report. She didn't look up from her laptop screen as she said,

"Sure, just over there." She used one hand to lazily point in the direction of her desk.

He was closer in age to her than her other brothers with only two years separating them.

"What are you doing?" He asked as he stood by her desk. Gwen finally glanced up at him and noticed that he had an extremely strange look on his face.

"Writing a Bio report." She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"About?" He probed, walking closer to her now.

"Uhh… pig heart dissection." He gave her a disbelieving look and even stood behind her to see what was on her screen. He scoffed loudly when he saw that it really was her Bio report. When he saw her confusion, he clarified things.

"I was just wondering what was making you smile for the first time in two months." The words hit home. It was the first time she had smiled, properly smiled, in a very long time. Guilt hit her and she slumped forwards, looking everywhere apart from at her brother.

"Hey, don't feel bad about it… I'm glad something can still make you smile." He paused at the doorway, before giving a smirk. "Even if it's pig hearts."

She went to bed that night with a lighter heart than she had in a long time. She glanced at her window before closing her eyes. She always kept her window open a fraction in the hopes that her bug-boy would come and tell her to forget everything he said before. Maybe tonight he finally would.

She was awoken several times during the night, convinced that she heard a noise. She would excitedly glance around her room and when she saw the window was still only open a fraction, she would dejectedly fall back to sleep. The next morning she woke up cold and without Peter.

She got to school with the intention of finding Peter and talking to him. She searched the corridor where both of their lockers were but he was not there. She stood there stupidly by her own locker for a good fifteen minutes. She didn't have classes with him until her final period, so she sat through the classes not really paying attention to what was happening. She went to her locker inbetween every class, but she still did not see him.

She nervously wringed her hands together as she waited to see if he would show up to Math class and after ten minutes she gave up that hope. Then she glanced up at the door as she heard it softly open and close. Her heart began to soar and smile reappeared on her face. He didn't glance in her direction once though and he sat on the opposite side of the classroom. Worse was the fact that his hood up, so she couldn't clearly see his face so she couldn't even begin to guess what he was thinking.

The teacher tapped her one-meter ruler on the blackboard in order to get Peter's attention.

"Mr. Parker, if you wouldn't mind answering the equation on the board? And remove that hood." He didn't move for a second, but he eventually pulled back his hood. There was an audible intake of breath from a few of the female students as he did so, and Gwen leaned forward in her seat to see why. When she finally saw his face properly, she had to fight the urge to gasp as well. She shouldn't be surprised, she told herself, because she had seen him like this before.

His bottom lip was cut and had left a bloody stain on his chin. His right eye was swollen and was starting to turn a vile shade of purple. She couldn't see the other side of his face, but figured it looked just as bad.

The teacher tried to look unfazed and still prodded at the board with her ruler, but Gwen could see her eyes were full of concern. He got up slowly which suggested one of his legs was in pain as well, but he walked on over to the board. He answered the question perfectly and was able to quickly go back to his seat. Again he acted like Gwen was invisible.

Class went on smoothly, but when the bell rang Peter was asked to stay behind. It was probably so the teacher could ask who did this to him and that he should tell on the bullies. Gwen knew Peter would make up some lie about skateboarding and she would probably buy it because it was something less for to worry about.

Gwen waited outside the classroom for him and tried to formulate in her head exactly what she wanted to say to him.

He was out of the classroom in a record speed and nearly crashed right into her. He regained his balance and even lightly grabbed Gwen's arm to hold her upright. He let go of her just as quickly as he had held onto her though. After that he didn't acknowledge that it was her there and continued walking off. Gwen debated going after him or not. If she did go after him then it would more than likely destroy the dream state she had been living in for the past 24 hours. It was an inner conflict that lasted for approximately a second before her concern for Peter took control of her. "Peter!" He did not stop for her, but he slowed down enough for her to catch up with him. She held on loosely to the sleeve of his hoodie to get him to stop fully, but he seemed to slightly flinch away from her. He removed his earphones and began to play with them in his hands. He didn't look up at her.

"What happened?" She asked in the softest voice she could manage. She was about to raise her hand to touch the bruise on his left cheek, but she though better of it and stopped herself. He finally looked up at her, but wouldn't meet her gaze for longer than a few seconds. His eyes were soft like they used to be around her, which she thought was good enough progress. He didn't answer her question, but instead said with a casual point in the direction he was heading in,

"I've got track now." She blinked a few times in surprise by his brusque tone, but tried to give a small smile and not let go of her hope.

"I can walk you there." Now he wouldn't even look at her as he shook his head. He cleared his throat as if he had something to say, but no words came.

"Oh…" She dropped her head as he nodded and began to walk off. Questions were on her lips, but she never voiced him. What was happening between him? Why did he ever say he wanted to break the promise if now he was acting like he had said nothing?

Frustrated, she hit her forehead with her hand and began to walk off to her locker. She needed answers and needed to know where the hell she stood with him now.

As she finished up her Bio report that night, she planned exactly what she was going to say to Peter the next day. She finally finished her report at 1:45am and crawled into her bed. She spared a glance at the window - it was still open. She considered closing it, but she wasn't just ready to let go yet.


	3. Chapter 2

_Thank you again for all the reviews! You guys are really spoiling me with them. :P I hope you continue to enjoy the story. This chapter has a lot of angst, but don't worry I don't think any of the later chapters will get as angsty as this one!_

_And thank you for being so patient with me. I will really try to get an update every 4 days!_

* * *

"Did that plate personally offend you?" Gwen's Mom asked this after a painful five minutes of watching Gwen attacking her pancakes. Every time she went to cut a piece of a pancake she would take it as an opportunity to bang her cutlery loudly against the plate.

"Sorry," She said sheepishly, while her mind whirred with a possible excuse she could give her Mom for her obvious bad mood. "Uh… Just a bit grouchy today."

Her Mom raised her eyebrows as if to say, 'You're telling me!' but all she said was "I noticed." And then she stood up to go get breakfast for Gwen's brothers.

"Hey," Her brother Carl said, as he flopped down into the seat next to her.

"Hey," She grumbled back, not looking up from her plate of food. He studied her for a second before sucking in his breath audibly.

"Ouch… Guess you finished that heart dissection essay then?" He had noticed her gloomy expression, somber tone and the continued clattering sound she made against her plate. She twisted her lips in a pathetic excuse for a smile and gave a small nod. She finished her last mouthful of pancake before standing up.

"Guess I should leave before I break something." She said, grabbing her bag as she kissed her brother on the top of his head. She called out goodbye to her Mom and she heard her call back. She groaned as she thought about her day ahead.

She still glanced around corridors and classrooms to see if she could find Peter, but she had a Plan B all planned out if she couldn't see him at school today anyway. Yet it still worried her that he wasn't around. Had he gotten himself more injured than yesterday? It pained her to remember the state he was in before, but she just had to get through her day of school.

After her classes had finished and her swimming practice was over with, she dropped by her locker before she started with her Plan B.

"Gwen!" A loud squeal made her snap her head around to see who it was. She internally groaned as she saw it was the person she never ever enjoyed bumping into.

"Ashleigh!" She said, her voice annoyingly was oozing with fake enthusiasm. This girl seemingly bought it though by the awkward pat she gave Gwen on her shoulder and the sympathetic smile.

"Oh, this is really uncomfortable… But you've missed the past two dance committee meetings." Her voice grew higher pitched as she continued on. "I completely understand, but we really need you there at our next meeting. It's only a week away till our Spring Dance!"

_Ah, dance committee… _Gwen was the financial advisor aka the person who crushed everybody's dreams of ice sculptures, chocolate fountains and dancing bears. She kept a fake smile plastered on her face as she replied.

"Uh-huh, when is it?"

"Tuesday! I made sure it was a day when you didn't have debate meetings, so no excuses!"

_Grrrr…. _She hated Ashleigh for being all cutesy with her even though they were far from being friends and also the fact that she really had no excuses for not attending another meeting. She really didn't like being around all those hyped up people when all she ever felt like doing was curling up in her bedroom and eating an unhealthy amount of chocolate.

"Aw how thoughtful of you, Ashleigh!" She continued on with her fake smile. "I will _definitely_ be there! Okay, I've got to go." Ashleigh nodded in a weird kind of understanding way and brought Gwen into a hug.

"If you ever want to talk to me, I'm right here." Gwen quickly pulled out of the hug and basically ran away from her.

Now it was time for Plan B.

* * *

She hadn't expected Peter to answer the door, so she was not in the least surprised when his Aunt May came to greet her. There was a pause as both of them stood there smiling awkwardly at each other. She had completely forgotten in that second why she was even here.

"Uhm… Is Peter here?" Gwen finally regained her memory and managed to form a sentence. Peter's aunt beamed up at her as she stepped aside to let Gwen in.

"Yes, he's up in his room. He had a little accident last night while skateboarding." So he had gotten worse since the last time she had seen him then. His aunt shook her head and made a small tsk-ing sound. "I've been trying to get him to stop for such a long time now… He finally promised he would try." Gwen couldn't help but freeze as she heard that word… _Promise._ She felt her heartbeat quicken and she began to grow nervous at the thought of the confrontation she was preparing herself for.

All she said though was, "Do you think he will?" She gave a sad smile. He never would stop and wasn't this the main problem? Gwen had long ago accepted the fact that she would never be able to stop him running around and protecting people.

Aunt May let out a soft laugh, which suggested she didn't find it funny at all.

"No, no, no… You know what boys are like." She shook her head dismissively and sighed before looking back up at Gwen. "I'm sorry, it _is_ Gwen isn't it?"

She nodded and pointed at the stairs questioningly.

"Can I go up?"

"Oh yes, sorry it's the one on the far right. I'm sure seeing you will cheer him up." She gave a knowing smile. Gwen _highly _doubted that, but returned the smile as she headed upstairs. She took a deep breath before opening the door.

And there he was. She couldn't even enjoy the fact that she was seeing his room for the first time, because of what he was currently doing. She let out a breath of disbelief as she saw him trying to open the window despite the fact he looked like he could barely stand. He was dressed in a warm hoodie and jeans, which confirmed the fact for her that he was trying to sneak out to avoid seeing her. The only reason he hadn't left already was surely because he couldn't walk properly.

"Really?" Her tone was sharp and eyebrows were raised so high that she would have felt completely ridiculous if she weren't currently so angry. She walked further into the room.

At least he looked a little sheepish as he shut the window and limped back to his bed. He fell onto it in a far from graceful manner.

Gwen stayed standing as she thought of what to say next. Peter wasn't looking worse than before, but it was clear he was in extreme pain as he winced when he even tried to sit up straight.

"I fell off a building last night… Ran out of biocable webs." He said with a feeble smile, as he tried to explain the state he was in.

_Hmmm… Well, at least he's in a more talkative mood than yesterday._

"And the other night?" Gwen asked, folding her arms tightly across her chest. He paused.

"Ran into some less than friendly car thieves while getting chased by the police." That didn't sound like something that would cause him so much trouble. She couldn't help but feel that he was lying and the fact that he couldn't even look up at her suggested the same thing. Also he was still trying his lame attempts at smiling while playing with the loose threads on his hoodie.

Gwen sighed, as she realized it was time to get to the point of her visit.

"Why have you been acting like this since Wednesday? Since you…" She couldn't finish her sentence. He shook his head as if he had been dreading this and finally faced her, but his eyes still trained themselves away from her eyes.

"I shouldn't have said that in the first place." Well, that hurt. She knew deep down that the reason he had been regretting saying anything, but to actually have it confirmed out loud was painful.

"Then why did you?" He chewed on his bottom lip and looked as if he was going to stand up, but he simply winced in pain again. He exhaled deeply as he continued on.

"I wanted… needed you to know I still care." Gwen shook her head at the words and was about to argue with that, but he pressed on. "Gwen, we never even looked at each other. I thought you would think I didn't care at all."

His tone was almost forceful as he tried to convince her of his good intentions.

"Oh, right… I should have just known you said that just to show you _care_." She hated how harsh the words sounded. Gwen closed her eyes as she calmed herself down. "Look I already know you care, Peter… What I want to know is are we ever going to get back together?" She held her breath as she waited for his reply. Finally he gazed into her eyes, as if he were searching for the answer there. She hoped she wasn't on the verge of tears like she felt she was. He turned away, looking frustrated.

"I don't know…" He said quietly. There was a pause as Gwen processed what that meant for them.

"You don't know or you don't want to hurt me?" Silence. All there was was an empty silence and that was enough for Gwen. That silence spoke louder than the conversation they had been having. This was it – it was over between them.

"I'm not just going to stand here and wait around for the day you decide to give me false hope again, because that's all I've got left, isn't it?" False hope. It was what had made her happier than she had been in ages, but it was cruel and heartbreaking now. She couldn't blame Peter for making that promise, but she finally had a just reason for being angry with him.

That night she shut her window.


	4. Chapter 3

_Oh my God, I am so sorry for my late update, but my computer broke! I've been desperate to write for the past three weeks or so but I just couldn't with the technical difficulties. Hopefully you will all still be willing to read this. Love you all, thanks xx_

* * *

Gwen spent the following weekend moping. However she would not admit that to others or even herself. She pretended she was actually being very productive and in a way she was. She spent a lot of time studying for an upcoming Chemistry test, she finished up her homework, prepared herself for Monday's Debate meeting, tutored Flash and made notes for the dreaded dance committee meeting. She of course did all of these things with a stack of emergency chocolates within arms reach the whole time. She also spent a ridiculous amount of time with MTV on in the background, which she knew was surely going to diminish her brain cells, but she found it strangely comforting.

Monday classes were extremely boring, but she was well prepared due to her intense weekend so she was able to respond correctly to all the questions asked by her teachers. She got back her report on heart dissection and she received an expected A+. So it turned out to be a pretty… satisfactory day.

And Peter? Peter who? No, she hadn't looked behind her when she was at her locker to see if he was at his own one. No, she hadn't been at all curious what he had gotten for the bio report or what he had done the night before or what he had eaten for lunch. No, she hadn't looked at his face to see if it was still bruised (it wasn't). And she most certainly hadn't snuck a glance in his direction when she thought he wasn't looking. At least she pretended he hadn't done those things.

After debate meeting, despite the fact that she was absolutely exhausted, she decided to do something which she had been avoiding doing for a while.

* * *

She pulled her coat on tighter, so it was hugging her body nicely against the strong gusts of wind constantly coming in her direction. As she walked along the crooked path, she tried to remember exactly where his grave was situated, but all too soon she saw it. She hadn't come here in over a month, but others clearly had. There were fresh flowers resting in front of the headstone. She drew in her breath as she read his name there – George Stacy. She knelt down in front of it and slowly lay out the flowers she had brought with her along with the others. Even though she spent a lot of time every day thinking about him, there was something about seeing his grave that made this feel so much more real.

"I miss you," She barely whispered. "I was always scared this would happen to you even when I was little… And now that it has I guess I feel less scared… Or maybe I'm more scared of other things, I can't really tell anymore." She fiddled with the flowers as she tried to continue her little speech, ignoring the fact that she was about to cry.

"I know you made him promise. I spent a long time hating you for that, but I know why you did it." She wiped away a single tear that had fallen down her cheek. "I'm sorry for being angry. I love you Dad."

She planted a kiss on the top of the headstone. Afterwards she stood and tried to take a deep breath. She took out a tissue from her school bag as she began to walk away. A noise made her stop in her tracks. It was a tiny, rustling sound in the tree above her but it still caught her attention.

"Peter?" She instantly said, raising her head to look up. A bird flew out of the tree and she knew that was all it had been. She mentally kicked herself for thinking even for a second that it had been Peter.

Why would he even be there when she had basically told him to leave her alone? And why had she felt slightly elated in the second she had thought it might be him?

* * *

She tried as hard as she could to drown out the excited babble that surrounded her regarding the upcoming Spring Dance. She just focused on her numbers and whether or not Ashleigh had remained within the budget. She had not. Gwen was now trying to find ways they could get cheaper alternatives for some things. When Gwen had told Ashleigh that they were currently over their budget, she had seemed slightly nonplussed about the whole thing. Nobody was really paying attention to Gwen right now, so she was able to remove her stupid, fake smile.

"Gwen," Oh, time for that fake smile again. She glanced up to see Ashleigh leaning over the front of her desk, looking at her with those sad eyes. "I'm sorry again for making you come, but…"

"Don't worry about it," Gwen interrupted with a little force, hoping Ashleigh would realize she didn't really want to be talking about anything personal with her. She took a moment to avert her eyes from her screen to give a little nod in Ashleigh's direction. She didn't seem to get the message though, as she continued on.

"I know things have been really tough for you…" Her voice drifted off for a second and when she spoke again there was a hint of surprise in her tone. "Especially with that."

"That?" Gwen asked in complete confusion. Ashleigh was looking at something or someone behind Gwen's shoulder. She almost didn't want to, but she turned around anyway. Yup, she really shouldn't have turned around, because all she now wanted to do was curl in a defensive ball and hide away from the world forever. Peter Parker_. No, no, no, no, no…_

Ashleigh smiled at him with a slightly questioning glint in her eyes.

"Peter?" Gwen stayed sitting down, but she was swiveled all the way around in her seat so she was facing him. _What the hell was he doing here?_ He fumbled around in his bag and pulled out his camera as some sort of explanation. She saw he had fresh cuts on his neck, but he kept pulling on the collar of his shirt, so they wouldn't be nearly as visible.

"I've got to take some photos for the yearbook." _Great…. _Ashleigh began to beam up at him and walked closer to where he was standing.

"Great!" She exclaimed with much more enthusiasm than Gwen had.

"Do you want us to pose in a group shot or just natural?" Peter looked around the tiny classroom and his eyes rested on Gwen's for a mere second.

"Err… Just natural will be fine." _Good_, Gwen thought, as she turned back around to stare at her screen. She could sense him just walking around and could hear the constant clicking of the camera, but she did not look away once from her laptop screen. Ashleigh was still staying very, _very_ close to him.

"So are you going to the dance, Peter?" She asked with an annoying little giggle. Gwen felt her chin jut out in annoyance and it took all her strength to not turn around to see what Peter's expression was.

"Probably not," He mumbled. Gwen felt her annoyance die down slightly as it seemed that he wasn't really paying attention to her obvious flirting. She was probably flipping her goddamn hair as well!

"Awh… you should go!" Since when did Ashleigh have a 'thing' for Peter? Was she about to ask him out to the Dance now? And what was with all the sympathy she had shown towards Gwen earlier as she now seemed so very eager to make her suffer as much as possible.

"Wow, you take really great photos of me!" _Give me a break_, Gwen angrily thought as she began to tap her pen against the side of her laptop to give her some sort of distraction.

"Hey," Ashleigh began excitedly and Gwen had the feeling this was going to be an invitation to the Dance. "Gwen was just saying we needed to cut down on some of our expenses, weren't you Gwen?"

Oh, yes this was indeed an invitation but just in a different way than she had expected. Gwen quickened her pace of the pen tapping and said "Uh-huh" without turning away from her laptop.

"So… why don't you be our photographer for the Dance?" Gwen grinded her teeth together as she waited for his response, she was silently begging him to say no. He seemed a little stunned by the question as he only mumbled a few unintelligible words. Ashleigh tried to reel him in by adding, "You'll be able to have as much fun as everyone else and the ticket will be free! Please? This will such a huge favor for us!" Gwen could just imagine her giving him a toothy smile and batting hr eyelashes.

"Errr… sure." He finally replied after what felt like an eternity for Gwen. She heard a cackle of evil laughter from Ashleigh and then soon after the resumed clicking of the camera. She clenched her fists together; she really couldn't stand this for one second longer!

"Parker," She said almost sternly, as she stood and whirled around to face him. He put the camera down and for once he looked into her eyes. He flinched… Of course it was the tiniest flinch and nobody would've noticed except for Gwen. Calling him by his last name was pretty cold of her but she couldn't let his miniscule reaction faze her. "Have you got enough photos yet?"

He paused before responding and his mouth gaped open. Ashleigh's eyes darted between the pair of them as if she was at a tennis match.

"Uhhh… Gwen? Can't he just take a few more photos?" Gwen pulled her gaze away from Peter's and narrowed her eyes at Ashleigh. She was about to reply, but Peter got there first.

"It's okay… I've got enough." He hurriedly put his camera back in his bag and looked like he wanted to escape as soon as possible. He kept his head down as he turned to leave. Ashleigh still kept up the happy pretense as she called out,

"See you at the dance Peter!" She waved at his back and sighed happily as he exited the room. Gwen was still staring at her with narrowed eyes and one raised eyebrow. Ashleigh looked a little intimidated when she noticed Gwen's fiery glare.

"What?" She asked innocently. Gwen shook her head and turned to go sit in her seat, but Ashleigh wouldn't let her leave so quickly. She gave a tug on Gwen's arm so she would turn to face her once more. "What is it?"

"Since when do you like Peter?" Gwen tried to sound as indifferent as possible and looked everywhere but at Ashleigh as she said that. Ashleigh was momentarily surprised before letting out a loud snort of laughter. Gwen looked back at Ashleigh, feeling surprised herself.

"Seriously?" When she registered Gwen's confusion, she stopped laughing. "Oh please… Me liking Peter Parker? I was only trying to sweet – talk him into being photographer!"

Gwen mumbled an almost inaudible "Oh…" Ashleigh smirked.

"Besides he barely paid attention to me anyway." Gwen took a moment to realize what she meant by that. It shouldn't have made her pulse race or make her blush or bring the biggest smile her face had seen in days, but unfortunately for her it did.

She got back to her laptop with a smile on her face. She procrastinated a little by going to the Bugle News homepage. Her smile slipped faltered as she saw a photo of Spider-Man and a headline saying, "**SPIDER-MAN TEAMING UP WITH A NEW VILLIAN?**" She held her breath as she skimmed through the article. An explosion had erupted in one of the city's leading banks HQ and over a hundred had died. Found leaving the scene was a man who could seemingly fly. Spider-man was also seen leaving the building not soon afterwards, so it made him seem suspicious to the police. All they needed was a new reason to hate him, but Gwen knew Peter would have only been trying to save people inside the building. She checked the time of the incident and it only happened a few hours earlier, so that explained the fresh cuts.

Gwen now knew he had probably been after this guy for a few days, so he must have been lying to her about the car thieves and falling off the building. And she knew he was in trouble again.


	5. Chapter 4

_Thank you to everyone who is sticking with this story despite the slow updates! I am very, very grateful to you :) Didn't really edit this so please bare with spelling/grammar errors!  
_

* * *

"We remind you once more to be on the lookout for any unusual sightings. Over one hundred have been found dead and nearly double that number are injured after the two incidents over the past twenty-four hours. " The reporter standing in front of the Bugle News Headquarters took a deep breath before continuing on. "It is thought that the masked man that goes by the name of Spider-Man is working alongside the new unknown villain, who has been nicknamed _Burn_, so any sightings of him should be reported as well." Gwen groaned and angrily turned the TV off. She didn't need to hear another word of that crap.

"What was that?" Her Mother asked with a tone that could be described as a mixture of bemusement and concern. She had just walked into the kitchen to resume cooking dinner. Gwen opened the drawer in front of her to get out the cutlery before responding.

"Another public attack by the same guy who set fire to the bank. This time it was an explosion at the Bugle News Headquarters." Her mother made an appropriate gasping sound, but Gwen hadn't finished yet. "He's able to fly around using some sort of jetpack."

"Like Spider-Man?" Her Mother obviously believed the stories that Spider-Man and this Burn guy were a team. Only some regular, sane citizens believed otherwise and knew that Spider-Man was actually the good guy.

"No-" Gwen started before being interrupted by her two youngest brothers running through the kitchen so that they could get into the dining room.

"Hey Mom, when's dinner?" Daniel called as he skidded to a halt in front of one of the dining room chairs. Gwen eyed them curiously as they started unfolding large pieces of paper.

"Not for another hour or so." Her Mother said, turning her attention away from Gwen to focus back on her cooking.

Gwen followed her brothers into the dining room with the cutlery so she set the table.

"What's all this?" She asked, peering over Sam and Daniel's shoulders so she could get a better look at what they were doing. They were excitedly gluing things together and examining what looked like posters. She already read what one of them said, 'Vote for Daniel Stacy!' She raised her eyebrows in confusion.

"Daniel's running for Class President of grade 8." Her brother, Sam, told her casually.

"Daniel! Why didn't you tell me you were doing this?" She exclaimed, giving me a supportive pat on the back and leaning in nearer so she could get a closer look at his typed speech. She should have really foreseen his reply, but unfortunately she didn't.

"Well, we don't really see you much anymore." That sentence cut through her like a knife.

"Oh…" Was all she managed to say before rapidly pulling away. She set the cutlery messily on the table and held her head in her hands. Family had always been the most important thing in Gwen's life, but she knew she had been becoming distant. _I've been so selfish, _she thought as she tried to remember the last time she had spent proper time with all her family. Only a fortnight ago they had watched a movie together, but Gwen remembered how she had been agitated and anxious for it to be over. Sure they still sat together for dinner and sometimes they did do things together, but Gwen didn't really know what was going on in any of their lives right now. She felt heavy with guilt and the fact that she knew her Father would be disappointed in how their family was right now. His death had left a hole, but in that moment Gwen knew this had to stop. Family bonding was going to start now and she would no longer be a selfish wallower.

"Okay… Well how about we do something tomorrow night?" Her brothers turned in their seats to look at her, clearly wondering what was going on. "You guys, me and Carl. What do you say?"

"We can't tomorrow. We're watching the big baseball game on TV." Her brother Carl said, as he entered the dining room. He sounded a little apologetic, because he obviously could tell Gwen was trying to make an effort. She had no idea what game it was, but she wasn't going to give up so easily.

"We can watch it together! I'll buy snacks." She nodded, and gave a weird thumbs up to show she could totally watch the game with them and enjoy it. Sam and Daniel grinned and then turned back to their work, while her other brother returned the thumbs up with a laugh.

She stayed and helped her brothers finish up the posters, which was actually kind of fun and took her mind off so many of the other things she had going on in her life right now; After dinner though she reluctantly had to get back to her own work.

"Well, I've got to get back to last minute preparations for the Dance," She said with a not so subtle wince. "See you later."

She ruffled Sam and Daniels' hair before heading upstairs. She was feeling slightly more content with things than she usually felt, but she still was debating whether to discuss with Peter the fact that he lied to her or not. She couldn't really think why he wouldn't tell her. Was it because she didn't want her to worry about him? He didn't want her to be involved in this mess? It gave her more hope that there was still something to fight for with Peter, but also strangely make her feel like there was nothing left between them.

She suddenly got a great idea for the game tomorrow night. She remembered in one of her tutoring sessions with Flash that he had some tickets to sell. _I will be known as the greatest sister in the world, _she thought as she texted Flash asking if he still had those tickets available.

* * *

Gwen had to ditch her friends during lunch time so that she could do get out some books for one of her projects. It didn't take her as long as she expected so she started to hurry towards the exit so she could spare a few minutes socializing and get some food inside of her.

"Gwen!" She heard the urgent whisper behind her and knew exactly who it was.

"Flash," She said in her normal voice, she didn't need to whisper because they were in the small corridor that worked as a passage between the library and the main school corridors. He closed the distance between them in one quick step and took the four baseball tickets she had texted him about the night before. She breathed out a sigh of relief and whilst grinning grabbed them from his hand.

"You are a lifesaver!" She said, removing her wallet from her bag. He furtively glanced behind him to make sure nobody was paying attention to this transaction.

"Yeah, they're just the crappy seats though." He said, taking the correct money from her. She didn't care if they were the worst seats on the planet, she was just happy she had tickets to get on the good side of her brothers.

"Really doesn't matter! Thank you so much again." She said, keeping her wallet and tickets back in her bag. When she looked back up she could see Flash was giving her a strange, examining look. She raised an eyebrow questioningly and Flash sighed.

"What's happening with you and Peter?" Now it was Gwen's turn to sigh. She fidgeted with her books and took a step backwards so she felt closer to ending the conversation.

"Nothing… We ended a long time ago, Flash." He nodded understandingly, but she knew he didn't understand at all why they broke up in the first place. "Look I've got to go eat something. See you later!"

She turned around and hurriedly got out into the main corridor. She automatically turned left to walk to the cafeteria, but she for some reason felt like somebody was standing behind her. She turned her head slightly to look over her shoulder and saw Peter opening the door to the library; he was acting like he hadn't seen her and Gwen almost pretended she hadn't seen him either… Almost.

"Peter," She began in a quiet voice. She wasn't sure if he would even respond considering their last encounter and the encounter before that. He looked up at her for a second and quickly nodded.

"Gwen," He let the library door shut, but still stood awkwardly on the spot. Gwen took this as a sign she would have to be the one to start conversation and this was a wonderful opportunity to question him about the new villain and the fact that he had lied several times to her about it.

"Have you been keeping out of trouble?" She asked in a light manner, but any idiot would have known there was a deeper meaning to it. At first he knitted his eyebrows in apparent confusion, but then a small knowing smile formed on his face.

"Why does it sound like you know I've been doing the opposite?" He took a step closer to her and Gwen realized this was the first time he was coming closer to her rather than moving away. The thought of this basically made her melt on the spot, but she was filled with concern over the fact that he had an obvious limp. She chewed on her bottom lip before replying. She wanted to keep it light; because she didn't think she could handle another confrontation like the previous ones.

"The thing about the biocable and the car thieves were a lie, right?" He threw his head back as if he was expecting this question, but hoping it wouldn't be asked. She stayed rooted to the spot and waited for some sort of explanation.

"I really didn't want you to worry… Especially as we're not together." He looked back down at her and his eyes flickered between her eyes and her hairline. She knew he was waiting for her to understand. She closed her eyes and nodded.

"But," She began tentatively, "are you okay? I mean this 'Burn' guy, is he -?"

"I can handle it." He interrupted with a calm yet determined look on his face. She hated that regardless of what he said she still worried about him. He was turning up to school every day with fresh bruises and he was saying he could handle it? How could she not worry about him? She wished more than anything that he didn't have to do these things. It was even harder for her to see Peter like this after what happened to her father. Nobody was invincible and Peter's determination convinced her that he thought he could do anything he wanted. And it wasn't her job anymore to try to convince him he still had limits and weaknesses. She just had to be strong and accept this is how it was; maybe it was better this way.

"I've got to get to lunch." She tried to sound as if they had just been talking about the weather, so she flashed him one of her fake smiles that she usually saved for Ashley and turned to walk in the opposite direction.

"Wait, wait." Peter surprised her by saying that and before she could turn back around he was walking beside her, matching her stride. She gave a bemused look with her eyes and he snapped his fingers as if he was trying to remember what he actually wanted to say.

"Uhm… You're going to the baseball game?" She figured he must have heard her exchange with Flash, but she had no idea why he was so interested in it. She raised her eyebrows as she replied.

"Yes…" She replied slowly, as he fiddled with the strap of his bag. They were approaching the cafeteria door and Peter stopped just before they reached it.

"I actually needed to go there… to you know pick up a book. I'll see you around." He turned to walk away before Gwen could say anything else. He called over his shoulder, "Have a nice time with Flash."

Gwen was too confused by his statement to actually correct him and when she had realized his mistake it was far too late to call it out to him. She figured there was no real need to correct him anyway, her and Flash were friends and Peter would know if they went together it would be as friends. And maybe Peter would ask Flash about it and he would tell Peter that Gwen was just going with her brothers. What difference did it make anyway if Peter thought she was going to the baseball game with another guy anyway?

She shook her head, trying to dismiss the whole conversation. She tried to ignore the fact that this was the first time they had had a semi-normal conversation for over two months. It was still intense and made her swing between completely contradicting emotions, but it was much more light-hearted than previous ones; Gwen was proud of herself for keeping it that way and not letting her worries for Peter show that much.

She just needed to accept this was how they had to be with each other from now on –civilized. Now it was time to forget Peter and get excited for the big baseball game.


	6. Chapter 5

_Okay, okay... I know it's been ages and I really have no excuses apart from the fact that I've been busy at school and kind of lost motivation to write this. However after recently finding out that Mary Jane is going to be in the next movie, I've got to admit I'm freaking out. Like please NOOOOO don't ruin gwen/peter already! How are you all feeling about that? _

_Anyway I don't expect anyone to still be reading this because it's been way too long, but I am in invested in this fic again, so expect faster updates!  
_

_Recap: Gwen and Peter have hardly spoken, but Gwen is still very much holding onto him and unable to let go. She has just discovered that Peter is facing off with a new villain, nicknamed Burn. Amongst all this, she feels bad about neglecting her family, so is taking her brothers to a baseball game.  
_

* * *

"Wait, what's a fly out?" Gwen asked, turning her head slightly to her brother Carl, as she still tried to grasp the basic concepts of the game. She was talented at many things, but baseball was not something she had an interest in. Her Dad had often tried to get her to sit through a game, but had given up when she turned twelve and he had her brothers to watch the games with him.

"Obviously it's when a player hits the ball and it's caught by a defensive player before the ball touches the ground," Sam said, sounding a bit like a snobby baseball enthusiast, he even gave a roll of his eyes at Gwen's lack of baseball knowledge. She shared a small smile with Carl at the fact that Sam stepped in before he could even answer Gwen. Carl laughed and ruffled Sam's hair.

"Thanks, Sam. And what's a breadstick?" She asked, with a sly look in her eyes as she saw Sam's puzzled face.

"That's food," Daniel said knowingly, whilst Sam stared on to see if it was a trick question or not.

"Well, yes… It's that and when you're losing or winning in tennis 6 to 1." She said, giving a satisfied smile in Sam's direction. He pointed his finger at her before making an accusation.

"That's not fair, it was a trick question," He said, his eyes wide. Daniel paid no attention to this conversation and continued looking out at the game with his binoculars. Carl laughed at Sam's annoyance; he had always had a habit of trying to look smart and was a sore loser.

"That's what you get for being a _smartass_." Gwen commented, whispering the last word dramatically. Sam shook his head, trying to get the binoculars off his brother. Gwen turned back to look at the game, trying to make out what was going on. She was enjoying herself mostly for the atmosphere of the audience but not really the game itself.

And Flash was completely right, these were the crap seats. They were so high up that once Sam and Daniel had discovered the location of their seats, they insisted on bringing along a pair of binoculars with them. They also had to stand on their seats to be able to look over the extremely tall people standing just in front of them. They seemed to be having a good time though and despite their sibling-esque fights, they were communicating better than they had for months.

"It was really nice of you to do this," Carl said a few moments later. She smiled, still looking out at the game.

"Don't mention it; I'm having a good time." She said, nudging her brother and giving him a grin. He smiled, but looked like he had more to say.

"I know you've had stuff going on, more than we've had. I do really like being able to spend time with you again though." Gwen stopped smiling and turned her head completely towards him. In that moment she wanted to give him a hug and tell him everything that had been going on with her and just really tell him how rotten she had been feeling, she knew he would be able to relate to half of it. However in the midst of a baseball game was really not the time or place. Instead she gave a small nod and held his arm for a brief second.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Sam yelled, lowering the binoculars and looking outraged at what he was seeing. Gwen jutted her chin and narrowed her eyes at Sam, as Daniel began tackling him for the binoculars.

"Can you keep -" She began to tell him off, but the rest of the audience's reaction seemed odd to her. She glanced around at everyone else, who were either pointing at the arena, simply staring with gaping mouths or were making loud exclamations. The biggest surprise to Gwen though was that they were all looking up and not down. Carl was staring at the field with furrowed eyebrows.

"I don't believe it…" He said nearly inaudibly, which forced Gwen to finally look out at the field. She froze as what she saw going on was not a game at all, but a fight. Her eyes were fixated on one participant of the fight.

"It's Spider-Man!" Daniel shouted excitedly, as others in the crowd began rushing out from their seats. Gwen tapped her brother's shoulder and gestured at the binoculars. He seemed reluctant to give them, but Gwen's obvious urgency must have convinced him to hand them over. She brought them to her eyes in between deep breaths as she tried to calm herself down with no success.

She could see Spider-Man being held in the air by his shoulders by who Gwen guessed to be Burn. Burn extended one arm backwards bringing it flying towards his face. Gwen felt like her heart was in her throat as Burn's fist smacked down on Spider-Man's face. Burn continued to punch him with no breaks, Spider-Man was trying to gain some control of the situation by bringing one of his arms up to ease Burn's other arm off his shoulder. In between one punch he managed to loosen Burn's grip on him and began to fall. He must have tried to use his biocable web, but as this was an open arena, what did he really have to attach himself to? Gwen brought a hand to her mouth as she gasped at the sight of him falling. Spider-Man fell nearly fifty feet from the air. He desperately tried to attach himself to something, but he couldn't find anything. Burn elegantly landed next to his curled up form. The players were now running from their positions and moving off the pitch.

She looked away, not particularly wanting to see what was going to happen next. Her brothers glanced towards the exits, unsure of what they should be doing. Others were either watching the fight from where they stood or were rushing out towards the exit. The stadium could hold about 50,000 people, so it would be dangerous getting out of there as well.

Gwen was stuck between doing the right thing and doing the stupid thing. The truth was this wasn't just a fight that was happening between a hero and a villain that could possibly harm others; this was a fight between a villain and somebody she loved. For her this wasn't Spider-Man, this was Peter. Carl looked to her for what they should do and Gwen ran both her hands through her hair in despair of what _she_ should do.

She looked back out over the field and to her relief Peter was finally standing up. Burn threw something over his shoulder that created a small explosion once it hit the ground. It was still within the arena so it looked like nobody could have been possibly been hurt, but the screams started. From something that turned into a spectacle was now finally being seen as dangerous. Carl pulled on Gwen's arm, taking control of this now as it seemed painfully obvious that Gwen had no idea what to do.

She never stopped looking at the field though. Burn was throwing things in Peter's direction, who seemed to be handling things now as he quickly dodged everything thrown at him. Explosions continued to go off though. Gwen, worried for Peter's safety, called out 'Look out!', despite the fact that her voice would not be heard over the screams.

She turned to Carl, who seemed to not understand what was happening with Gwen at all, and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"I'm going to tell you to do something and please don't question it, okay?" Carl was about to argue and clearly would not agree without knowing what it was, so Gwen pressed on. "Take them out and get as far away from here as you can. I'll ring you when I get out."

Carl shook his head adamantly, refusing to look into Gwen's worried eyes, and pulling on her harder.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He asked, not expecting an answer at all. An explosion now went off in the opposite stands to them, which increased Carl's urgency to get out of there. He was basically growling as he continued to speak, "We're leaving _now_."

She nodded reluctantly and let Carl pull her away. She glanced back over the packed, shrieking crowd and saw Peter doing the same as her. He was quickly scanning the crowd, as if he was searching for something or someone, and she could have sworn his eyes rested on her before he turned away back to charge at Burn. She closed her eyes for a second before willingly following her brothers out. After squeezing through the crowds of people, they finally managed to exit the building.

"Follow me," She said quickly, nodding at her brothers to make sure they heard her. They could hear another explosion from the arena and somebody exiting the building was holding their bleeding arm. She inhaled deeply before grabbing Sam's arm and taking off at a sprint across the street. Carl was holding onto Daniel's hand, running close behind her. They continued running until the screams were far off memories. The streets were now filled with moving cars instead of stuck traffic and panicked people. Gwen signaled for a taxi and they clambered in.

The ride home was quiet apart from the driver asking if they heard that the baseball stadium was just attacked by Burn and Spider-Man. Gwen shook her head, resting it against the window. The media and police could spin this anyway they wanted to, but everybody in that stadium would know that Spider-Man was fighting against, not with Burn.

When they got out of the car, Gwen was desperate to hear the news, just hear that Peter left the stadium safely. When they walked into their apartment, their Mom rushed out to the hallway, heavily sobbing. Sam and Daniel ran to give her a hug.

"I was so worried!... You're okay though?... You're okay, thank God… Didn't you hear your phone? Gwen?" Her Mom was saying, which made Gwen feel terrible again. If Carl hadn't stopped her from staying, how much more worried would her Mom be? And why hadn't Gwen got her brothers out as soon as the fight began? Her Mom had lost her husband and Gwen put her sons' lives in more danger than they needed to be.

She opened her mouth to speak, but could only shake her head. She walked closer to her Mom, and simply put one arm around her, resting her head on her shoulder for a second. She could hear what sounded like a news report going on in the living room and she silently followed the noise to see what was happening since she left.

"_I am standing outside the Shea Stadium where explosions were occurring for a full ten minutes. However they have now ceased. It is still unconfirmed whether any of the 40,000 attendees were harmed, but I can say that both Burn and Spider-man were involved in this. Police are tracking Spider-man as we speak. More information to come shortly." _

Gwen finally felt like she could breathe again, if the police were after him then Peter was safe for now. She rested her elbows on her knees and put her head in her hands. She hated that the only time she felt at ease was when she knew he was out of immediate danger. Her life should not still be revolving around him and her Dad was perhaps right, she realized. She had of course forgiven him a long time ago for making Peter promise to stay away from her, but she was only now seeing how it saved her from bad consequences. Like tonight she wasn't even with Peter anymore and was still trying to stick around and do what exactly? Help him fight off Burn? She almost got her herself, and more importantly her brothers, hurt. It was pure stupidity and she was feeling consumed by guilt over it.

"Gwen?" She heard Carl's voice say and she quickly stood up. She stared at him for a second, worried he was angry, but he looked mainly confused. She turned to go in the direction of her bedroom.

"Tell Mom I've gone to bed," She said stiffly, as she walked off. She could hear him walking behind her though.

"What exactly happened there? What did you think you were going to achieve by staying there?" He continued to probe, as Gwen chewed on her bottom lip. She stopped at the door to her bedroom, shifting her body so she was facing him.

"I really can't say," She said quietly. He shook his head at her answer, which didn't surprise her at all. Why should he be satisfied with that when from his perspective it seemed like she wanted to get herself killed?

"Were you going to try to help get people out?" Gwen continued to stare at Carl, praying he would just drop it. Carl made a scoffing noise as he tried to figure it out. "This is going to sound stupid, but you… you didn't seem worried about anyone else - just about Spider-man."

She tried to look surprised that he would even come to that conclusion, but it was perhaps the most unconvincing thing she had done in days. She finally shook her head and Carl shrugged before turning to leave. She wished she could say something that would convince him otherwise and make him see how guilty she felt over her previous actions.

With a defeated sigh she opened the door to her bedroom and her eyes immediately went to her window. She had been closing it these days, as she knew he would never come back, but she was wrong. For tonight he sat there, waiting for her to let him in.


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: This chapter is in Peter's POV which gives you an insight into what's been going through his head recently. The next chapter will be a big one, but I am going on holiday so I won't actually be able to update for another 2 weeks. SORRY! Hopefully you enjoy this though (: **

**And thanks for the reviews!**

* * *

_What the hell am I doing? _

This was all that ran through Peter's mind as he repositioned himself at the top of the stadium. Yes, the stadium; the Shea stadium where a baseball game was going on. He was perched on the top, getting a perfect bird-eye view of the game, but that wasn't what he was interested in at all. He was searching the seats, looking for her.

Peter got this crazy idea to basically spy on Gwen – although he disliked calling it spying – when he had discovered that she was attending that night's baseball match earlier that day. Of course simply going to watch the game wasn't what had been constantly bugging him since lunch time. She was going with Flash… He thought this pairing was odd and obviously jealously was the main reasoning for that.

He continued scanning the audience, shuffling around the edge, so more of the seats could be revealed. He didn't know what he was going to achieve by doing this? If he saw them kiss then it would make him more depressed than he currently was… but it might just make him let go of her. He knew one of the major reasons for him still silently pining for her was because he knew she still wanted him. Or perhaps he would see her and Flash were just friends and he could continue to mope around in peace.

He kept working his way around the edge, finally glimpsing her blonde hair. She was smiling, she was happy. He frowned before realizing that Flash wasn't even there, but she was with another guy. He leaned in more closely, examining the guy… no, boy who she stood with. His lips slowly crept upwards as he remembered this was in fact her brother. He sat backwards, forgetting for a moment that this didn't really change anything.

_That stupid promise_, he thought miserably. He had almost gone back on it, because nothing too bad was happening in the city, nothing he couldn't easily handle. He thought he had learned how to take care of himself and her too. He didn't think Gwen's father would have liked seeing Gwen so miserable as well. He had told her, 'But those are the best kind.' His heart grew lighter as he saw her smile at that and he knew he had won her back. It was simple.

Then of course that night he formed a new enemy, somebody who appeared out of nowhere. He was dealing with a pair of incredibly slow-witted car thieves when he saw a man walk – with ease - through fire to get to him. He was taken so by surprise that he did nothing to defend himself. He had gripped Peter's arm with his own hand and all Peter could remember was feeling a burning situation. As soon as he let go Peter sprung into action and managed to hold this guy back, but after being knocked down, this guy flew away before Peter could do any real damage.

Peter then knew he couldn't do this to Gwen, not when there was a guy that Peter wasn't sure how to handle. He figured one day they could, but after he was surer of himself and he had gotten rid of this guy. However it got worse with the bank and the Bugle News HQ getting explosions and fires that caused the death of many innocents. Peter was wracked with guilt when this happened, he should have been able to stop it… He was Spider-Man. He couldn't get ever track this guy though and turned up too late to the scenes of the crimes. It really didn't help that the media and police were against him too.

So basically this changed nothing. All this meant was that for now he could still pretend that he was kind of, but not really, with her.

"Spider-Man," He heard a growl say his name in the way of the greeting and he snapped his head around to see Burn. He was standing there in his black trench coat which didn't give away his ability to fly with his high-powered jetpack. His face, like Peter's, was covered, but with the use of a regular ski-mask which took away some of his seriousness as a professional villain which was probably what he was aiming for.

"Burn," He said smoothly, rising and cocking his head sideways. "I'm glad you're showing a bit more interest in this relationship, I was starting to think I would have to do all the chasing."

He used many hand gestures as he joked about. Burn's mouth was still visible, so Peter could see the sly smile creep up on his face. Burn then held up his hand and a bolt of fire came out of it. Despite how fast it happened, Peter jumped up in time to dodge it. He shot out a biocable web which connected him to the side of the building, so he was dangling just below the top of the stadium. Burn glided down to meet his level, pushing him into the middle of the arena, where they continued to dangle in the air.

"Okay, I'm fine with skipping the small talk and jumping straight to the physical side," Peter choked out as Burn held one hand on his shoulder and one grasping around his neck. Peter didn't even have time to react to the fact that Burn was able to create fireballs from his hands. This made things more complicated. Now he felt the familiar burning sensation around his neck and he grimaced in pain.

"How the hell did you know I would be here?" He shouted, letting go of the hand around his neck, extending his hand backwards before colliding his fist with Peter's face. He tried to wriggle himself out of Burn's grasp, but it was proving exceedingly more difficult. He glanced below to see that they were ultimately floating downwards.

"Big crowd and you seem like an attention seeker," Peter commented, before Burn shook his head and punched once again.

"You don't know the half of it," He grumbled, relentlessly battering him now. As he concentrated on this, Peter continued to pull free from his hold and eventually managed to break out. He quickly realized he hadn't thought this through, as there was nothing close enough to attach his biocable to. He ended up continuing to fall downwards about fifty feet before crashing to the ground. He weakly lifted his eyes to see players running off the pitch and could see Burn landing in an almost graceful manner for such a bulky man next to him.

"I thought spiders weren't supposed to fall," Burn said in his booming voice, working up a slow laugh. Peter pushed himself up with his hands and staggered towards Burn. He carelessly threw what looked like a handheld grenade behind them. Screams began to erupt in the crowd as people couldn't leave the stadium fast enough.

"Do we really have to make a scene here?" Peter said, slightly out of breath. Burn turned his attention back to Peter creating fire-bolts from his hands again, so Peter had to dodge them all. Peter reacted by shooting a web at Burn's face so it covered his mask and he was momentarily blind.

He took this as an opportunity to make sure Gwen wasn't still there. He scanned the crowd desperately, as he didn't know how long that web would stop Burn. His eyes finally rested on hers and she looked terrified as she stared back at him. He briefly caught her brothers pulling her away so he knew she would be able to get out. He snapped his head back towards Burn who had broken free and was trying to cause more havoc. He himself was scanning the crowd as if searching for somebody, but Peter crashed into Burn, bringing him to the ground. Burn held his hand upwards and Peter instantly knew this meant he was going to try shooting fire in his face. He pressed Burn's hand backwards so it was aiming at his eyes. He yelled out in pain, stopping his fiery glow and pushing Peter off him angrily. Burn looked up at the VIP box of seats, before flying off.

Peter groaned in pain as he tried to stand up. The crowd of people was thinning out now and unlike previous times, it didn't look as if anybody had been severely hurt. He aimed at the top of the building before he swung up to the top again. He glanced around him, searching for a sign of Burn, but after finding nothing he sat down again and rubbed his face where he had been punched over and over again. He heard the screams outside of the stadium and the sound of police sirens; he took that as his sign to get out of there. Another spectacle he would be shown as the bag guy he imagined.

He began to swing between buildings, his mind on his bed and how he couldn't wait to feel comfort once more. The screams began to die down as he made his way through the city. He glanced down for a split second and his eye caught onto a blonde girl; she was getting into a taxi along with her brothers. At least she hadn't stuck around, he thought to himself, she did the smart thing for her brothers. He realized he had been staring at the spot she just been in for a moment too long, as he heard the police sirens once more, they were gaining on him. He swung between the building he had been lingering at and another opposite him when he felt a shot of agony. He grimaced as he glanced down at the police cars that had stopped and some were aiming at him. He continued to move and tried to look as if they hadn't got him.

He knew as soon as he felt the sudden pain that he had been shot. It was in his leg, so it wasn't deadly, he wouldn't die. However it was strange that the first thought he had when he looked down and saw the blood, wasn't about the pain or the hospital expenses or what would his Aunt think? It was simple, just one word that kept repeating over and over in his head, _Gwen… _

Somewhere between getting shot and thinking of her, he ended up outside her window. He propped himself up against her sill, waiting for her to come back home. After ten minutes he was beginning to regret this choice, because what was this doing to her? He had recently given her endless mixed signals, and now he was showing up at her window like he had done when they were together. Her father had just died and now he was coming to her in the worst state she had ever seen him in. He concluded this was the most selfish thing he had done in an extremely long time. Even though he came to this conclusion, he couldn't bring himself to leave. Besides as soon as he saw her enter the room, his regrets and pain subsided.


	8. Chapter 7

Gwen was of course beyond startled at the fact that for the first night in who knows how long, Peter was there. She couldn't properly react at the sight of him though as the only thought controlling her actions was that she had to let him in. Her previous acceptance over why their relationship could never work seemed like a mere dream now.

She practically lunged at the window, not daring to look directly at his face as she tried to unlock the window which frustratingly seemed to take longer than usual. As she pushed it upwards, she finally surveyed his body. He was lying almost lazily against the wall and once the window had been opened, he slowly shifted himself to the window sill so he could pull himself inside. The whole while he stared at Gwen as if waiting for her to say something, but she was trying to remember how to breathe as she saw how torn apart his suit was. She quickly held onto his arm to pull him inside, as he himself was in no state to move freely, and she ignored the fact that he flinched at her touch. When he brought his leg over the sill, she let out an audible gasp at the amount of blood that was visible.

"Peter? How bad is this?" She asked urgently with wide eyes, finally pulling him inside completely. He did not say anything to begin with, as he slumped himself up against her armchair. He grimaced as he tried to sit up more, his hand quickly moving to his right leg where the blood was steadily oozing out. Peter licked his lips as if he really didn't want to say what he was going to have to say next, as Gwen leant closer to see what exactly was wrong. She knew Peter had recently become too used to lying about how bad things were, but now there was no option and anyway he was the one seeking her out this time not the other way around.

"I was shot by some guy… obviously thought he was doing his job." Peter croaked out, trying to sound as casual as possible. Gwen brought a hand to her face, closing her eyes as she tried to think what could be done now. She only saw one option though and she knew Peter would object. She slowly sat down next to Peter, giving him an imploring look.

"You have to go to the hospital," She said simply, which caused Peter to shake his head adamantly.

"No, I just -"

"You _have_ to go." She was a little more forceful this time; there was no way she could take no fo an answer. "Look all I've done before is clean up some of your wounds, but this – this is completely different. I can't do anything."

"Just clean me up again… And then I'll just go. _Please_." Peter said through gritted teeth. Gwen gave a shake of her head, looking down at her lap as she was sure the pleading look he was giving her right now may just convince her to let him go. There was a soft scoffing noise from Peter and he took a different approach at persuading her to let him go.

"What are you going to do? Ring for an ambulance and ask them to take Spider-Man? Make sure they don't remove my mask?" He finished with a mirthless laugh, but Gwen was ignoring him as she began to think of what she should do. Maybe it was too much trouble to get doctors involved, but then she would have to remove the bullet herself… That would be too dangerous and she didn't even know if the bullet should even be removed.

"Okay, I think I know what to do." She said, doubting herself even as she said it. However she gave a convincing nod in Peter's direction. He raised his eyebrows at her, as Gwen began to stand up.

"_Seriously_? No." He said, not realizing the stress of the whole night was really getting to Gwen and this was pushing her over the edge. She hated his current attitude; he seeked out her help and now he was throwing it in her face. That wasn't even the worse part… She was about to attempt putting their relationship behind her, but him showing up brought her back to square one. All this built up quickly before she couldn't hold back keeping it quiet now.

"Would you shut up?" She snapped, stopping in front of her cupboard. She faced him again once more, using her hands for emphasis with every point. "I just put the safety of my brothers at risk, because I was stupidly worrying about _you_. Now you turn up here after weeks of either ignoring me or telling me we can't be together, expecting me to simply clean you up and send you on your way. I don't know if you realize this, but I want you to _stay safe_. You're the one who came here, so now you're going to just do what I say." She paused for two reasons. She was raising her voice and she was pretty sure if she continued on one of her family members would hear her. The second reason being that she had just remembered the matter at hand; him being shot was bigger than any problems between them. She turned back to the cupboard and lowered her voice again "And this is wasting time."

She removed her medical kit which she still stored after her relationship with Peter. When she turned back to Peter, he still looked a little taken aback by her outburst, but thankfully didn't look like he was about to argue anymore. She ran a hand through her hair, tying it back into a messy ponytail. She ignored the piercing stare she could feel Peter giving her, simply concentrating on the contents of her kit instead.

"I want you to stay safe as well." He said so quietly that it was almost like a whisper. She was pretty sure he was just referring to the promise, but nonetheless she felt the familiar shiver down her spine as he said that. What happened next surprised her even more; he outstretched his arm and lifted her chin up. He gave her a small smile and she imitated his expression for a second, before remembering another time in her room that looked pretty similar to this scene. She looked away again. There was a moment of silence as she sat awkwardly searching through the kit.

"What's your plan then?" He asked, reluctantly agreeing to follow along with it. She sighed, because now she would have to be honest with him that she wasn't sure it would work.

"Okay, this might not be fail proof though." She began, before explaining the plan very quickly, the words simply tumbling out of her. "You can change into my brother's clothes now, because it's not like you can go to the hospital in your uniform. Then I'll clean your wounds up a little bit. I'll ring for an ambulance saying I heard gunfire from my room and tell them the address. I'll take you down the emergency exit and hope nobody sees us, and then you can just lie near some sort of alleyway I guess. Even if you get a lot of attention from people it'll be okay. I'll come back upstairs and make sure I see you go in the ambulance."

She took a sharp intake of breath after speaking of the plan, feeling a little out of breath. She looked at Peter for approval, but he was silent. He stared at her for a long time and seemed on the verge of smiling before he shook his head and turning away.

"You've got it figured out." She nodded, passing him some cloth, as she began to stand up.

"Keep pressure on it… I'll just get some clothes for you." She was partly grateful for the chance to be out of Peter's proximity for a moment.

She didn't wait for him to say anything else and quickly escaped outside, shutting her bedroom door behind her. She glanced down the hallway and thankfully she could still hear her Mom's chatter from far off. Her eldest brother's room was just opposite from hers. The door was ajar and she could see the lights were off. She ran inside and rummaged through his wardrobe for a shirt and a pair of shorts. She couldn't get Peter to wear jeans because it would be obvious that he wasn't wearing the same clothes that he was shot in.

She finally found something appropriate and rushed back towards the door, but what she saw on the opposite side of the hallway made her stop in her tracks. Her door was now ajar too and her brother was standing in the doorway. He was turned away from her, simply staring ahead of him, and she knew what he was looking at.

"Carl -" She breathed, not quite sure how she could possibly say anything to cover everything that was going on. Carl turned his head in the direction of the noise, looking completely horrified. He opened his mouth several times before he managed to properly communicate anything.

"What the hell, Gwen?" He nearly shouted it, so Gwen made a 'shh'-ing action. She looked back down the hallway, making sure the coast was clear before taking the two easy steps across the hall. She walked past Carl, heading straight for Peter. Carl remained in the doorway, looking more outraged than confused now as Gwen ignored him.

"Your ex-boyfriend is Spider-Man." He stated after a second more of staring. Gwen looked back at him, silently hoping he would just walk out the door and forget everything he had seen. She passed the clothes to Peter, glancing at him as she did so.

"Do you think you'll be able to change?" She asked, staring down at him. He nodded weakly, but looked like he wanted to say something to Carl about what he was seeing. In the end he muttered,

"Not so fail proof then…"

"Uhm… Say something when you're done." She said, nodding once more before walking towards the door and pushing Carl outside. She shut the door, nervously anticipating Carl's questions.

"He got shot at the game?" He asked, seeming to piece together the events of that night.

"Yes, I'm getting him ready to go to the hospital."

"And that's why you were so worried at the game…" There was no possible answer that Gwen could give to that, so Carl continued on. "How long have you known?"

"Too long…" She said softly, resting her head against the door and Carl imitated this action. "Why did you come up here?"

"I wanted to go to sleep, but I saw the light from under your door and I…" He trailed off as the rest was self-explanatory.

"So it can't be true, right?" He saw the confusion etched on Gwen's face and tried to clarify. "What everyone says about him…He's not bad."

"Not at all." Gwen replied with a shake of her head.

"Did you break up because of…_this_?" Gwen was about to shake her head, but it was completely about this and her father and it was starting to feel like everything was keeping them apart. She gave a small nod, staring at Carl to try and guess how he was feeling about all this. He was not facing her and his eyebrows were knitted together in deep thought.

"Why is he here then?" He asked, finally turning to look at Gwen. She guessed he was getting over the initial shock.

"He can trust me," She paused, wondering whether it was too soon to say what she wanted to say next or not. "And he can trust you too, right?"

Gwen knew it was horrible to ask that of him after what she had put him and the rest of her brothers through that night, but she needed to ask for Peter's sake… and a little for her sake too. After all what would be the point in everything they had been through if him being Spider-Man was revealed to everyone? She chewed her lip, trying not to think how dangerous that would be for Peter if his identity was revealed on a wider scale than ever before.

Carl seemed to get the meaning behind the question and nodded after a moment's hesitation. She exhaled slowly in relief, taking a step towards him to close the distance between the two of them. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his chest. He was about a head taller than herself so she soon felt him rest his head on top of his hers. It was the emotional release she needed after the night she had had.

"I'm _so_ sorry about what happened tonight," She whispered, her voice croaky with emotion. Carl didn't say anything but squeezed her tighter. "It's not going to happen again, I promise."

"Okay," The voice was not of her brother's, but was Peter's. She pulled away from Carl, opening the door and seeing Peter in nearly the exact same position he was in before but wearing Carl's clothes with his own uniform tossed near him. He gave a weak smile up at Gwen, whilst eyeing Carl with a little suspicion. Gwen noticed this and walked nearer to Peter, as Carl shut the door behind them.

"It's going to be fine," She said as reassuringly as she could. She sat down and removed the cloth from Peter's leg to examine the wound. Peter no longer flinched at her touching him and seemed to find it easier than ever to look directly at her. Gwen wasn't sure whether this was a good or bad thing.

"How… how is this going to work then?" Her brother asked a bit hesitantly. She turned her head towards her brother, knowing she shouldn't ask for anymore from him.

"I'm going to ring for an ambulance and then take him outside," She directed her next sentence to Peter, "I don't see the point in really cleaning this, because it might make it less believable. You -"

"I'll ring," Carl said with a grim expression on his handsome features. Gwen shook her head wildly at him, standing once more.

"Carl, _no_!" He was already taking out his phone though.

"Fine, tell them you heard gunfire and you think somebody got injured." He nodded, running a hand through his hair as he began to urgently speak into the phone. Gwen sighed, sitting down on her bed near Peter. He watched her closely once more before clearing his throat.

"What were you saying earlier?"

"Oh… Do you have a story to tell them?" She asked, turning back to Peter, but still paying attention to what her brother was saying on the phone. He was saying he could see somebody lying on the pavement which Gwen knew would make certain the ambulance would show up rather than saying he thought someone was injured.

"Gang attack I guess," He said after a moment's thought. Her brother got off the phone and fixed his stare at Peter. Gwen gave a cheerless smile in Carl's direction, curious about what was said.

"Was it okay?" She asked slowly, Carl averted his gaze and gave a nod.

"I can take him down." He said, suddenly reaching to Peter's side and offering his arm to help pull him up. Gwen instantly stood up and shook her head seriously.

"I'm coming, of course I'm coming." She didn't wait to hear Carl's response and lightly pulled on Peter's other arm.

It was a difficult and slow walk down that created tension and a stony silence between them as they were all aware that there wasn't much time to do this. It didn't seem like anybody noticed them walking down the fire escape. The road was quiet and on Carl's word they walked – or limped in Peter's case – to the opening of the alleyway opposite them. Gwen was beginning to realize how bad her plan was in practice.

"This is stupid… Anybody could walk by." She said, nervously glancing around her. "Maybe I should stay here."

"_What_? Gwen, I'm fine here." Peter said, looking annoyed by Gwen's suggestion.

"I think even with a bullet in his leg he'll be able to take anyone on," Carl said, the first glimmer of humor in his eyes since they had gotten home. Gwen still didn't look convinced.

"I'm going to be on the stairs, watching until I see the ambulance." She told Peter firmly.

"You okay?" Carl asked a little hesitantly to Peter who nodded his head. "Let's go…"

He moved closer to Gwen to push her towards the stairs, but she refused to move.

"Just a minute," She said quietly, giving her brother a pleading look. He sighed and walked back in the direction they had come in. She knelt down next to Peter and inhaled deeply before attempting her next sentence, but Peter spoke first.

"You should go in, it'll be fine." Gwen knew that he had no idea what she wanted to say to him so by staying silent it was only making him more curious.

"Do you… do you remember when you were here before?" She asked softly, "I told you about how every day I was scared that my Dad wouldn't come home."

The silence between them in that moment was almost painful. It was painful for her because she hated bringing this up right then, but there was no other time to do it in her mind. Him coming to her tonight was like all the previous times he had come to her and this conversation rang in her mind loudly for the whole night. It was of course painful for Peter because he knew perfectly well what he had said to her that night, but things had changed and he could never do what he had promised her.

"And you told me you understood… You made it seem that you would quit and I believed you, but I guess a part of me always knew you wouldn't be able to."

"I'm sorry."

His answer ripped through Gwen. It was confirmation that he would never give it up, not even for a chance of being with her. She felt sickeningly selfish then, for wanting him to give this up was horrible – he was helping people!

She leant forward and pressed her lips to his forehead before standing up slowly.

"Gwen -"

"It's okay, it's over." Of course it had been over for months, but Gwen was finally accepting that it was actually for the best that it was over. She gave him a sad smile and refused to over think Peter's seemingly pained expression.

She walked over to the fire escape and Gwen was pretty sure this would be the last time she walked away from Peter. It was hard, but it was progress.

* * *

**A/N: When I started writing this chapter I had no idea it would actually end like this. It was supposed to be happier, so I have no idea what happened. **

**Anyway review and I promise I will respond to the reviews this time! **

**Thanks,**

**TheCheeryCherry**


	9. Chapter 8

It took Gwen a few seconds that morning to remember the events of the night before. Had she really faced the truth yesterday that it was over between her and Peter? Yes, and did she regret it? Almost entirely.

She groaned, not wanting to move at all. She glanced at her alarm clock and groaned even louder, it was ten which was later than when she usually woke up. She stretched and got out of her very slowly. She tied her hair in a messy bun before opening one of her cupboard doors. She opened to simply examine how tired she looked in the mirror, but as soon as she opened the door something that had been messily placed inside came tumbling out. Gwen chewed on the inside of her mouth as she bent down to pick up Peter's suit. She stared at it for a few seconds before wondering what was going to happen now that she had his suit.

Was he going to come get it himself? Was she going to have to give it to him? At the hospital? At school? At –

Damn. The dance. It was Saturday, today. Well, it slightly comforted Gwen that Peter most likely wouldn't be attending due to being shot yesterday, but the dance was still happening and that she was positively dreading.

She shook her head, shoving the suit back into the cupboard before hastily turning back to her reflection.

"I know, I know… This sucks. Today will be extremely sucky. But now, today, will be the birth of new Gwen. Well, really old Gwen re-incarnated." She smiled at her reflection with pride, before bringing both of her hands to her face. "And you are talking to a mirror, Gwen Stacy."

Her family were all at different stages in the breakfast when Gwen finally came to the dining room. Her mom noticed her first and frowned with concern.

"Are you alright?" Carl turned his head realizing it must have been Gwen his mom was talking to. Gwen gave a small smile and nodded.

"Uh-huh. I just had a headache and didn't get much sleep last night." Her mom nodded back, before getting up to start clearing away the plates.

"I'm still relieved everyone came home okay," She admitted, before disappearing into the kitchen. Gwen once more felt the annoying pang of guilt, but it went away quickly as Carl called for her attention.

"I wanted to show you some of the photos I took last night," He said casually, approaching her. She knew this wasn't about photos, but was actually about the events of last night. She wished he didn't know.

"I want to see them too!" Daniel said enthusiastically, getting up from his seat. Carl winced at the fact he didn't choose a better cover-up story, before turning back around to face his younger brother.

"I'm going to put it on the computer and then you can see," Daniel didn't look very convinced and was still walking towards them. Gwen bent a little so she was her youngest brother's height.

"We want to show them to Mom later on, so we need somebody to keep her occupied… I think you can do it." She said confidentially, whilst Daniel scrunched his nose up in thought before nodding in agreement. Gwen extended herself once more and Carl gave her a smile. They walked down the hallway towards her room and once they got inside Carl gave an awkward smile.

"Crazy night, huh?" Gwen smiled at first before letting out a sigh.

"I did say sorry, didn't I? I really wish you didn't see that and you didn't have to know that. You deserve -"

"Quit worrying about it," Carl said, interrupting her lengthy apology. "I just wanted to tell you that I rang the hospital this morning."

"And?" She asked, keeping the worry out of her voice although she was almost certain her heart began to beat wildly. Carl seemed to examine Gwen's face as if he was looking for a reaction or some slight change in her expression. Gwen raised her eyebrows, asking him silently to continue on.

"And he's going to be fine," He calmly said after a moment of silence. Gwen kept her sigh of relief inaudible. Carl remained standing there and Gwen wasn't sure what else needed to be said.

"Well, that's good," She said in a seemingly casual voice. Carl continued to stare.

"Don't you want to go visit him?" He asked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

"Why would I?" Gwen asked, but her eyes strayed to her closet. Carl made a small scoffing noise as if her response was completely ludicrous. She opened her mouth to argue, but Carl cut in.

"Well I'm going." He said casually, before turning to leave her bedroom. Gwen spluttered out some mumbled noises that didn't make much sense, but got Carl's attention and he turned towards her once more with raised eyebrows.

"Fine…" Gwen muttered with a roll of her eyes, as if Carl had been arguing with her for a long period of time. "I suppose I can give him back his suit."

Carl gave a knowing smile which Gwen chose to ignore as she marched on over to her closet.

* * *

Peter couldn't repeat what he first saw when he opened his eyes that late morning, because what mattered was what he first heard.

"Peter?" He winced, as his eyes focused on the person sitting right next to his bed – Aunt May.

"Oh, Peter… How are you feeling?" He simply nodded, sitting up a little more so he was a little more comfortable. He felt a sharp pain in his ribs which he hadn't even noticed the night before.

"Better… I think" He said, slightly croakily. As soon as she heard his voice, Aunt May stood up to pour some water which was conveniently on his bedside table.

"What even happened?" She asked with caution. She was at her wits' end – Peter was totally aware of this as well – and this was the final straw. How many nights had she seen him beaten up and just in general pain? At least he had always come home… Last night she received a phone call which she thought was the final call she would ever receive that let her know of somebody passing away, but there was still time to correct this now. He was okay, but barely.

"Some gang… They were starting trouble and I got in the way." He gestured to his leg, "And then that happened." Peter replied, giving a helpless shrug as he continued to sip on his water. Aunt May shook her head, standing still over his bedside table.

"Peter… I just… how much longer is this going to go on?" She asked, no, begged. Peter laid his head back against the pillow, so he was looking directly up at the ceiling and closed his eyes. "It was just your skateboarding, but now… in hospital?"

"Aunt May, how could I have stopped this?" He asked, hoping this wasn't really happening. It was one thing to have Gwen say that he was never going to give this up and that was why they couldn't work, but to have Aunt May now on the verge of begging him to stop whatever he was doing was just torturous.

"I honestly don't know," She said, closing her eyes now and visibly breathing deeply. She opened her eyes and the guilt was plain to see. "I'm sorry, really… It's not your fault, of course it's not. But can you please be careful? Get home earlier or just stop with the silly skateboarding? I don't think the insurance will be able to cover anything else like this."

She broke into a smile at the end, making it clear the insurance comment was made light-heartedly. Peter attempted to smile back, but honestly he couldn't have anybody else tell him to stop this, because at the end of the day he couldn't. This was who he was now.

"I'm supposed to tell the Doctor if you wake up." She commented, walking over to the other side of the bed to kiss his forehead.

"And how long have you been here?" Peter asked, his usual cheekiness slipping back into his tone.

"Uhm… Possibly all night," Peter shook his head and Aunt May continued to walk to the door.

"Please go get yourself a sandwich at least," He said, laughing a little as he watched her go.

Of course as soon as she left his thoughts were immediately brought back to Gwen. Last night was probably the worst night since he and Gwen had broken up. He hadn't even told her everything he had wanted to tell her, not that it made a difference.

For a long time it had been her dad's last words that had stopped them getting together, then she made him feel like it was all his own fault and he could have just ignored it. Now he was quickly realizing that he could ignore it and wanted more than anything to just be with her. Maybe now it was Gwen that was stopping them from getting back together, or maybe it was everything added together. All he knew was that he had to say something to her… Something that would either make this all okay or make it worse.

* * *

"Carl," Gwen snapped, pulling his arm away from the reception. "He might not even be allowed to have visitors right now!"

"Who are you here to see?" The receptionist behind the desk asked, looking confusedly between Carl and Gwen, who were still fighting for control of the situation, before smiling at them.

"Hi, we were told to come here from the ground -"

"Peter Parker," Carl interrupted, which was welcomed with a sharp nudge in his ribs from Gwen, who continued to smile at the receptionist, while Carl winced in pain.

"Just one moment," She said, walking towards the other side of the desk. As soon as her back was turned, Gwen poked Carl harder again.

"There's probably no point in even – Wait, how did you get information on him earlier?" Gwen asked hurriedly and Carl simply cocked his head to the side as if to say he had no idea what she was talking about.

"You rang the hospital?" She asked again, but her brother still wasn't getting it. "Peter didn't have any I.D on him and he would never willingly tell anyone what his name was…"

"_Oh_," Carl elongated the sound and simply gave another one of his knowing smiles, which infuriated Gwen more than she cared to say.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She nearly shouted, but the receptionist returning to stand in front of him meant Carl wasn't paying any attention to Gwen, so she just received a long weird stare from the receptionist.

"Peter Parker is in room 802. It's near the end on your right," She said, lifting her arm to point out the direction. "You can ask one of the nurses to show you if you're not sure. And visiting time is for a couple more hours, so you've got time."

Gwen hurriedly thanked her, but Carl took his time surely only to annoy Gwen more. He sauntered through the bustling people in the direction they were told to go in.

"And what did that mean?" Gwen asked, in a much quieter voice but the annoyance was still very easy to make out.

"Huh?" Carl asked, concentrating on reading the room numbers, as they continued to walk along the corridor. Gwen could swear in that moment that she was a second away from punching him.

"The '_Oh_' and the little, annoying smile you gave me." She said and this only caused Carl to smile again, which lead to Gwen pointing angrily at him. "That!"

"Peter probably gave his identity, because he was hoping you might want to come and visit him." Carl said with a sigh, as if he was explaining this to a child. Gwen, out of instinct, was about to disagree with this, but instead found herself rooted to the spot and her mouth making a near perfect 'O'-shape.

"Ah, this must be it," Carl smiled, pushing open the door, which gave Gwen zero amount of time to gather her thoughts. She followed in slowly after him, staring at the ground for perhaps longer than she should. She slowly lifted her eyes, and saw Peter looking much better than he had yesterday, and he was staring at her.

"Gwen," He said, and there was a long silence as he was waiting for Gwen to say something, whereas she was waiting for Peter to continue on.

"Hey Peter," Carl said, giving an awkward wave. Peter finally brought his eyes away from Gwen and nodded unsurely at Carl. "You okay?"

"Errr… Yeah," He said, realizing he should say more. "Thanks for last night."

"No problem," Carl waved a hand in his direction dismissively. "Well, Gwen's got something to give you, so I'm going to wait outside."

Gwen narrowed her eyes at Carl, who simply smiled at the both of them before exiting, so Gwen was left just standing near his bed.

"Isn't your Aunt here?" She asked, tucking a few loose strands of hair behind her ear, as she walked closer to his bed.

"Yeah she is, but just went to get some food." There was another long silence as they both looked anywhere but at each other. Finally they caught each other eyes and a nervous laugh broke out.

"Well, I brought your suit." She said, holding up the bag with one hand and pointing at it with her other free hand.

"Uh… Maybe, could you keep it?"

"Keep it?" Gwen repeated, blinking her eyes in surprise. Peter shook his head, smiling nervously once more.

"My Aunt May might be a bit suspicious of Spider-Man's suit being here." He stated, scratching the back of his head. Gwen made an inaudible, 'Oh', chewing her bottom lip and shaking her head.

"Got you," She said slowly, wondering if she should go now or not. "So you're doing better then?"

"Yeah, I should be able to leave later." He said, nodding. Gwen tried to fight back her smile.

"_Really_? I think you and I both know they'll want to keep you here longer than that." She said, for once she was showing a bit of the spark towards him that was there when they were first dating and even before they were dating. Peter noticed the complete change in her voice as well, but soon smiled back at her.

"You know I won't follow those suggestions,"

"Rules and perhaps you should."

In a second they were back to how they used to be. It seemed to take the both of them in surprise as it seemed like years ago where they were able to talk to each other so easily, but Peter was on the verge of ruining it.

"Do you… uh…" He started to laugh; perhaps it was at what he was planning to say or the fact that he was barely able to ask the question. Whichever it was it increased Gwen's curiosity in what he was going to ask.

"Do I what?" She asked, a small smile playing on her lips despite herself. She had no real expectations of what it might be, but all the same it brought about an excitement within her.

"Do you remember that time I asked you out?" Peter finally asked, he was trying to keep it light-hearted at first, but the fact that he nervously chewed on the inside of his mouth gave it away that this was a more serious question. Gwen did her best to ignore that though.

"Yes. Yes, I do," She smiled, remembering how he had asked her. She repeated what he said all that time ago, "Or we could do something else?"

"And you said either."

"But I'm glad we did something else," Gwen said. They both let out a near silent laugh, but something in the atmosphere shifted and Peter met her gaze once more. And then Peter ruined the moment.

"I want to go back to when it was simple, before we knew the consequences of us being together."

Gwen blinked a few times in surprise and tried to make out if Peter's face would give away anything about what he expected her to say back, if anything at all. It may have been a statement, which didn't need an answer, because it was obvious they both felt that way.

"I… After last night I really can't ignore the problems with us." She replied, running a hand through her hair as her shoulders began to slump slightly forward.

"Problems?"

"Well, problem." She gestured to the bag she was holding that contained his Spider-Man suit. This seemed to stop Peter for a second. He couldn't really argue with her on that problem, because he was never going to give that up and that was something else that was obvious to the both of them.

"I meant what I said yesterday," Gwen added and she had resolved that there was no point in standing there any longer. She turned towards the door, took a deep breath and began to take the four steps that would lead her into safety.

"No," The simple syllable brought Gwen back in. She turned back with eyebrows raised. "I need to tell you something."

"Well?" Gwen prompted almost as soon as he finished his sentence.

"I went to the stadium because I was worried you went with Flash. I know, I know it was stupid and thoughtless. I could have caused trouble, but the thing is he planned on going there. If I hadn't been there then he could have hurt you… and thousands of other people."

Gwen felt like her pulse was quickening and slowing down at the same time. She didn't know what to say… or better yet how to feel about this information.

He was completely right though – that was stupid. Going to the stadium as Spider-Man just to spy on her? It was ridiculous. He could have attracted trouble for himself with the police or with everyone else in the stadium. Not just that, but the fact that he thought she would go with Flash; did Peter truly doubt how she felt about him after all this time.

However she didn't say any of this to Peter, because she still wanted to know if he wanted anything from this.

"What are you trying to say?" She asked, her voice sounded croaky and quiet as if she was tearing up.

He didn't attempt to respond for a few moments. They stared at each other, Gwen in anticipation for his response and Peter was assessing her reaction to his comment. When he opened his mouth to respond, it was too late for his aunt entered the room. Gwen broke away from the eye contact she was making with Peter.

"Oh… Gwen?" Her aunt asked carefully, confusion apparent on her face.

"Hello," Gwen replied, attempting her best to smile back at her.

"How did you know Peter was in hospital?" She glanced between the two of them, who were obviously trying to think quickly of how Gwen could possibly know about Peter being in hospital.

"Uhm…"

"Err…" Gwen began, before thinking of a pathetic excuse that she decided to roll with. "Well, the hospital informed the school about this and I was there to decorate for the dance tonight, so I heard that Peter wouldn't be able to come tonight."

Aunt May raised an eyebrow, turning her head to Peter's direction who simply shrugged with a forced smile.

"Right, I better go then." Gwen stated after a painful moment of awkward silence.

"It was very sweet of you to drop by," Aunt May said with a smile to Gwen which Gwen returned.

"Bye Peter," She quietly said and was disappointed when he didn't say anything in reply but simply nodded at her.

Once she exited the room Carl was waiting for her with a slightly hopeful expression.

"I'm keeping his suit for awhile." Gwen said, walking back the way they had come. Carl sighed, realizing nothing had really been sorted out. He followed her out, shaking his head.

* * *

Peter ignored the look Aunt May was giving him and concentrated on turning the TV on. Some talk show was on and of course it was coverage about the near disaster the night before and Peter wanting to avoid the matter of Spider-Man around his Aunt, moved his finger over to the next channel button.

However the person being interviewed caught his eye – Tom Campbell, the editor of Bugle News.

"Are you saying Spider-Man was saving you?"

"No… No, that's not what I said. Spider-Man and this Burn character were fighting though. It doesn't seem like they are working together."

"This wasn't your first dealing with Burn either was it?"

"No, he attacked the Bugle News, but I was out for lunch at the time so I wasn't in the building."

"Will you still be attending the Cancer Research Ball tonight?"

"It's a tradition."

Peter processed this news quickly; it was all starting to make sense. He knew where the next attack was going to be.

* * *

**A/N: So I discovered in a re-watch of the movie the actual names of Gwen's brothers, but I don't want to change the names now because that would be way too confusing.**

**I've been working on this chapter for weeks! Hope you guys like it :) Again sorry for the slow update**


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